BERKELEY – California looks to get back on track when it travels to the San Diego area this week. The Golden Bears play at San Diego State on Thursday at 1 p.m. and also start play in the Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championships La Jolla, California – about 16 miles from SDSU – the same day. The doubles tournament ends on Sunday.
 
Cal brings a 3-4 record to the match at SDSU, which is 2-8. The teams have one common opponent in Oregon, which defeated the Aztecs, 6-1, in a neutral-site match on Feb. 17 in Las Vegas. The Bears edged the Ducks, 4-3, in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend consolation match on Jan. 29 in Berkeley.
 
The 129th annual Pacific Coast Doubles Championships will take place again at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. Last season in the open tournament, then-Cal senior Andre Goransson and Cal associate head coach Tyler Browne teamed up to reach the round of 16.

Three pairs of Bears are seeded in this year's tournament, including seniors Billy Griffith and J.T. Nishimura (one of two No. 2 seeds) and freshmen Ben Draper and Jack Molloy (a No. 9 seed). The third Cal seed is another ninth-seeded duo, which features freshman Thomas Wright and his father, Cal Director of Men's Tennis Peter Wright.
 
For more information on the Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championships, please visit the official USTA site for the tournament by clicking here.
 
Poll Position
In the Oracle ITA Rankings, Cal senior Billy Griffith (9-8) holds down the No. 79 spot in singles, and the pair of Griffith and senior J.T. Nishimura (13-5) is 30th in doubles.
 
Last Time: Bears Fall In Big Slam
Cal senior Billy Griffith – ranked 79th – upset Stanford's 14th-ranked Tom Fawcett, 6-4, 7-6(4), in the Big Slam on Feb. 24, but that wasn't enough as the 36th-ranked Golden Bears lost to No. 2 Stanford, 4-1, at the Hellman Tennis Complex.

Cal Earns Head Coaching Endowment
A new endowment announced Jan. 25 to fund the head-coaching position for men's tennis at Cal will be made possible by a $3 million anonymous gift. The position will be named for current Golden Bears boss Peter Wright after his retirement.
 
The men's tennis head coaching position funded by the endowment has been retitled Director of Men's Tennis, and upon Wright's retirement – nowhere in sight for the 54-year-old coach – the title will officially become the Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis.
 
Wright, who has served as Cal's head coach since 1993, is an ITA Regional Coach of the Year, recipient of the 2017 ITA Meritorious Service Award and three-time Conference Coach of the Year. He has taken his Golden Bear teams to the NCAA Tournament 23 times and seen his student-athletes earn 20 All-America selections along with numerous academic awards. A Berkeley native, Wright earned a B.A. in Social Science from Cal, where he played tennis as a four-year letter winner before competing as a professional player, Irish Davis Cup player and Davis Cup captain, and serving as the Irish Olympic tennis coach.
 
Next Time
Cal starts Pac-12 Conference action when it plays at Arizona State on March 10 and at Arizona on March 11.